PALM BEACH, Fla. — Twenty years after the late Palm Beach financier Jeffrey Epstein first faced criminal charges for the sexual exploitation of young girls, a team of journalists at WPTV continues to examine his lasting impact. Now, a local survivor is sharing her story publicly for the first time.
"Yes," she responds quietly when WPTV anchor Ashley Glass asks if this marks the first time she's fully opened up about the 18 months of abuse she endured as a young girl.
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The survivor has chosen to protect her identity, still harboring deep fears that strangers might misuse or misunderstand her deeply personal experience.
Glass asks, "What is the one detail you can't get past?"
"His smirk. It won't go away," she says. "I've often described it as that Cheshire cat. I'd love for it to go away, but it doesn't."
This brave survivor shares more of her story in the WPTV original documentary GROOMED: Surviving Epstein, on Thursday, July 23 at 7 p.m. on WPTV.
